Our upcoming nuptials mean we’ve been popping champagne corks more than usual. The last time we visited the lovely Kay she showed off this little champagne stopper that had little arms that grab underneath the rim on the neck of the bottle (where the twisted bit of wire grabs). So far, it’s worked great. We’ve even managed to keep the champagne bottle cold using our Vacu Vin ice pack, though at this rate we’ll have to invest in an attractive champagne bucket soon.

I found this champagne stopper at the grocery store in the wine aisle, but you can find them on Amazon, along with a few that are more expensive but have a bit of a nicer design: WMF Clever and Blomus.

A bottle of St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram caught my eye the other day and I made a note to look into it. From the importer: “The allspice liqueur, known in classic cocktails as “Pimento Dram,” brings together the fine pot-still rum and classic allspice berries of Jamaica. Enjoy St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram in classic cocktails, Wassail and other punches, mulled wine, continental and island cuisine.” (ed. note: Wassail!) Two At The Most has a recipe that uses it in Black River Sidecar. Drink Boston calls it a lost cocktail ingredient that is being found again and includes recipes from various sources for Passenger Pigeon, None But the Brave, and Lion’s Tail. I’ll have to grab that bottle when we go back.

Earlier today I had the luck to attend a brunch held by Starbucks where they were going to present a Big New Thing. News of the thing, a new form of instant, or soluble, coffee called VIA Ready Brew, broke a little early so there wasn’t much surprise to what the news would be. The brunch was held at the Boat Street Cafe and of course the food was outstanding (reminder to self: make that kale gratin). I was so happy to have Mary T. from Shelterrific there with me.

update: Mary is holding a gift bag giveaway over here at Shelterrific and has more pictures from the brunch, some featuring my hands.

So here’s what I learned. The process of extracing the coffee took 20 years to perfect and was done by Don Valencia, who wanted to be able to drink good coffee on camping trips. The VIA name is in honor of him. It comes as a fine powder in the familiar skinny packet, you dump it into a mug and pour hot or cold water on top and stir. It’s 100% coffee, no additives. VIA will be available in Starbucks stores in Seattle, Chicago and the UK on March 3rd, and afterward everywhere. You can purchase it online at Starbucksvia.com, it will ship starting March 3rd. A pack of three will be $2.95 and a pack of 12 will be $9.95. Apparently samples were available at Fashion Week and will be included in the Oscars gift bags. There were free samples and those who heard about them early from Starbucks on Twitter grabbed them very quickly. They have not yet cracked the code on making a decaf version. The pack of three comes in this tidy package, which opens like a matchbook:

During the meal we got to try two varieties of VIA, the Italian Roast and the Colombian. I’m not a coffee snob but I did spend a summer working in a coffee shop (the critical early morning shift) and I can honestly tell you the coffee was delicious. There was no hint of bitterness or off taste to me and I was instantly thinking of all the ways having a few packets of this around would be ideal, mostly traveling. I was also thinking back to all the unfortunate past trips where we stayed with non-coffee drinkers and the touchy mornings because these people just didn’t understand and no peppermint tea won’t stave off my need for caffeine. Having a few of these would have solved all those problems. Anyhow, Ad Age reporters tried the coffee (note: video) alongside coffee brewed in the store and called it “virtually indistinguishable”. (That link is via The Food Section.)

At the end of the meal waiters brought around carafes of hot water and we were able to make our own coffee, but I had already taken the opportunity to dump a packet into my glass of ice water:

It dissolved (mixed?) quickly and didn’t have any bitter or sourness. I am completely taken with how easy this will make having a glass of iced coffee in the summer.

We were sent home with a swag bag with a few samples and this amazing I Am Not A Paper Cup from the MoMA store. Thanks Starbucks!

(I suspect, or like to think, that had the news of VIA not been so thoroughly leaked early the brunch would have included a reveal at the end of the meal that we’d been drinking instant coffee all along. As in, “we’ve secretly replaced their coffee with…”. That would have been awesome, no?)

I also wanted to say hello to the people I bumped into or met for the first time: Melody from Crave Party, Keren from Frantic Foodie, Ronald from Cornichon and Orangette‘s own Brandon, who reports his restaurant Delancey is set to open in April. Delancey is located in the neighborhood that Scott and I lived in for a year and a half and I really wish our time there had overlapped. Excellent pizza made by excellent people within walking distance? That would have been great.

I got a chance to catch up on some podcasts recently and, since New Years is approaching, my ears perked up when I heard two recommendations for inexpensive sparkling wines.

The first was in the October 18th episode of Good Food in an interview with Robin Goldstein, founder and editor-in-chief of Fearless Critic Media and whom you might know as that guy that got his fake restaurant and award from Wine Spectator. The second half of the interview talks about some of the things he found while writing The Wine Trials. He talks about the fact that the $12 bottle Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut consistently scored higher than a $150 bottle of Dom Perignon. Domaine Ste. Michelle is a Washington wine so I’ve been seeing it in my regular grocery stores for $9.

The other was a recent (Dec. 8th) Fresh Air interview with Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, the husband-and-wife team behind the wine column Tastings. They recommend the Cristalino Brut Cava as a good budget bottle for celebrating small things, like getting home on time. (I recognize this name because a friend once declared it was what you buy when you’re too poor to get Cristal.) You can read their column on good bubble for celebrating the New Year here.

Did you know that Starbucks sickeninglylightly sweetens their iced coffee and iced tea? And that if you don’t want it sweet you have to specifically order it as unsweetened? I didn’t know this until we were blocks away from the drive through window. We went through the line at the next Starbucks with a drive through, not too far away, and they replaced it no questions asked, which makes me think it wasn’t the first time they got this request. Still, though, yuck.

If you happen to find yourself in Victoria, BC and like gin it’s worth seeking out Victoria Gin made by Winchester Cellars. It’s an organic gin made with local ingredients in a beautiful copper still, and it’s very, very good. I had it in a martini at the Empress Hotel on a Saturday night, and was sad the next day was Sunday because it meant I wouldn’t be able to buy a bottle of the gin to bring home with me. The martini itself was made with a spritz of orange blossom water, and I don’t recall if there was vermouth. One tip, order it with a twist, olives overwhelmed this particular martini.

The gin was released just this past May, and for the moment is only available at the Empress Hotel, The Straith Spirit Merchants in Victoria and the tasting room at Winchester Cellars.

If you place a quarter over the cap of a bottle of beer before you open it, the top of the cap won’t bend and you can put it back on the bottle so the beer will keep overnight. In our case a 22 ounce bottle of Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA was still good when we returned to it after two nights had passed. Thanks to the good people at Full Throttle Bottles for the tip.

Shown above is my lizard bottle cap opener whom I’ve had since my very first apartment. You can also see him here in all his woefulness.

Today is Repeal Day, so pop out and have a drink tonight to celebrate the anniversary of the day the United States repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and gave Americans the constitutional ability to consume alcohol.